Auguste Lemaire, president of the solar technology company Sunvelope, holds a section of a solar panel at his office in Sparks.

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More than three decades is a long time to wait for an idea to come to fruition.

Yet, that's how long it took Auguste Lemaire to bring the solar hot-water technology behind his company to life.

Lemaire, the president of Sparks-based Sunvelope Solar Inc., developed the idea for his solar collector between the '70s and '80s, when green energy saw its first renaissance in the United States. At the time, the Carter administration offered a 40 percent tax credit for solar projects, Lemaire said. ...